How to Choose the Right Pitcher for Latte Art

Understanding Spout Shapes and Pitcher Sizes

Hello! The next topic is quite voluminous. Here I will tell you about the thickness of pitchers, volumes and shapes of the spout. Just to sum up a little: the minimum pitcher you need is 360 ml. This is a mandatory amount. It is better to take the pitcher immediately with a sharper spout. If you want to quickly learn how to draw, for example, rosetta, then with a pitcher without a sharp nose, you are unlikely to succeed. As a last resort, choose a pitcher with a moderately sharp and moderately rounded nose. 

The following: you will need a small pitcher for a small cappuccino. You can take a universal one, for medium and small volumes. And, of course, a large pitcher for 600 ml, just for two small cappuccino. These three pitchers will replace all the others. And now for more details.

Spout shapes

‍First, consider pitchers with the widest possible spout. They have both strengths and weaknesses. The wider the nose, the better it will be for drawing hearts and tulips. A tulip is a set of hearts that we cut and cross out at the end. A wide nose will make it easier for us to draw such shapes. Rosettes are more picky about the sharpness of the nose. But it also has its own nuances.

Why else is it cool to have a wide nose? With a lower pressure, the jet turns out to be immediately wide. And the wider, the better. If the pitcher's nose is pointed, the milk will flow most in the center of the spout. That is, the jet will be thinner, and the pressure will be less. 

There is also an optimal spout for the pitcher. Universal, from Barista Hustle. Its nose is wide enough for hearts and tulips, but it also makes rosettes well. From the previous words, we can conclude that the sharper the spout, the thinner the rosetta will turn out. The universal spout is suitable for wide rosettes, thin ones, with a lot of movements, can not be done on this one. The amplitude of the milk fluctuation in the pitcher will be greater than that of a pitcher with a sharp spout.

But even here it is worth considering something: if the spout is too sharp, the milk will swing badly, so the latte art will turn out much worse. The milk needs to swing properly, it should fluctuate when drawing rosetta.  In addition, in pitchers with an extra sharp spout, most of the milk will get into the latte art, and for latte art, it is important that it gets in an equal ratio with foam.

There is another form of pitching. I'll tell you about a couple of nuances: the first, their volume. They are only 450 ml. This volume is ideal for drinks of 300 ml. The second, this pitcher has an oblique shape of the upper edge, which is lifted up from the wall with the handle to the spout. Why is this necessary? Well, first of all, whipping. When we whip up milk, the centrifugal force happens to spill out of the pitcher just closer to the spout. The second point is that by lengthening the body, we can plunge the pitcher deeper into the cup during drawing, which will give us the opportunity to draw better.

There are also completely new pitchers with a wave-shaped spout. It narrows to the tip, which makes it possible to pour in good, thin and small rosettes, and by the beginning, on the contrary, it expands, so hearts and tulips also come out perfectly. 

Let's touch on one underrated topic in pitchers. I call it a cliff. The extent to which the tip of the spout bends outward. 

A deep cliff is both a big plus and a big minus. The most important plus: such a pitcher will not leak milk on the pitcher. Therefore, even with a large volume of milk in the pitcher, you will not have smudges on the walls. If the cliff is not large enough, when the milk is thinly poured into the espresso, the milk will flow down the pitcher directly to the table. And, of course, this affects the drawings, since it will not be possible to make subtle strikethrough elements, milk will simply spill on the table and past the cup, creating dirt everywhere, including on the surface of the drawing.

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What pitchers to take for the institution

‍If you want a pitcher with a focus on latte art, and besides, to please both yourself and your baristas, then this is the 600 ml JIBBIJUG pitcher. It costs around 2 thousand rubles. You can't find them on marketplaces yet, but you can order them on AliExpress.

Next lot, Barista Hustle - 400 ml. A fairly versatile pitcher, with a price in the region of 3.5-4 thousand rubles. 

There are also differences in the same categories of pitchers. It would seem that the pitchers are the same in appearance, but they differ from each other in volume. One is 400 ml, the other is 350 ml, and the third is 380 ml. They are in the same category and here is the nuance. Two main factors. If you have a coffee shop cup smaller than 200 ml, then a smaller pitcher will be preferable. It will be easier to beat a smaller volume in it. If you take a 400 ml pitcher and try to beat 150 ml of milk in it, you will get worse, since such a pitcher will most likely be wider at the base. The milk will spin inside the pitcher and the funnel will turn out very badly during heating.

Therefore, pitchers with a more elongated shape, not pot-bellied, will be more versatile and more suitable for a coffee shop. Even if your pitcher is of medium volume, the elongated shape will allow you to spin milk into both a small cappuccino and a medium one. It is important that the pitcher's width and height are approximately the same.

‍How many pitchers and what volume should I take for the coffee shop?

‍First, we will discuss what volumes we have available. I'll start with the biggest one - 1.5 liters. From experience, I can say - an indispensable thing in a coffee shop. Often, he has little to do with milk and whipping, but one of these should be available in a 100% coffee shop. Whether a pack of milk has burst or for blanks where there is a lot of hot something so that you can hold the handle and calmly pour it. In addition, such a pitcher is one of the best for drawing hearts and tulips, I give a tooth. You can beat it, of course, but not all coffee machines will be able to beat so much milk. Simply not enough steam engine power.

Slightly more mundane volume - 900 ml. It has applicability in a coffee shop, you can immediately give a couple of cappuccinos for 0.3. You can do a little more, but you will have to try to beat the whole thing. Two medium cacao, two rafs - just this pitcher. Masthave.

Next, the two most common volumes are 350 and 600 ml. Such pitchers are needed always and everywhere, without further ado.

The next one is 250 ml. Such a pitcher will most likely be useless for a coffee shop, and you will rarely use it. It is possible to beat in this state, but it is problematic, since the power of the nozzle will splash out all the milk and overheat.

Pitcher 150 ml. In such cases, it is convenient to prepare espresso, but it is also not suitable for milk. And there is also a very small pitcher, which is difficult to use even in the preparation of espresso. You have to make the entire coffee machine work while the espresso is being brewed. Under one double holder, one such baby is not enough, espresso will flow by.

How many pieces and which ones to buy at the coffee shop? At least two of 150 ml each. But I would take at least three, with espresso. Next, at least a couple of 350 ml each, so that you can simultaneously collect two different drinks at once. Or, if one is dirty, let the second one be in stock. But, again, three is best. The same goes for a 600 ml pitcher. In addition to drinks with milk, it is convenient to use them for original teas. Therefore, if your coffee shop has copyrights - take five pieces without hesitation. You have collected 2 teas and you have a large cappuccino, for example, and a large raf. 4 different pitchers to simultaneously give an order and one in stock. It's cool!

Pitcher 900 ml. It is enough for one, for those cases when you need to collect two identical drinks at the same time. They take up a lot of space, so one behind the eyes. The same goes for 1.5 liters. It's worth having one in stock, but it's rarely used.

In addition to this list, it is a good idea to have a pair of 450 ml each in stock. For medium cocoa, raffi or cappuccino. Less space in the pitcher and more convenient to beat.

Which pitchers to take home?

‍Home - the most standard set of pitchers-350 and 600 ml apiece. On home coffee machines, steamers are not always powerful, often their power is not enough to beat large volumes. It is very rare for them to beat something in a pitcher of more than 600 ml. Steam power, its quantity may simply not be enough, calculate based on this.

It's a big mistake when owners of coffee shops buy one 600 ml pitcher with the expectation that sometimes they will prepare one drink, and sometimes two at once. The fact is that for whipping, we need at least ⅓ of the free volume in the pitcher, and ideally half. The ideal amount of milk for a small cappuccino is 150-180 ml. Easy to remember: half a 350 ml pitcher is just 160-180 ml of milk. 

Pitchers ' temperature transmission

‍There is a legend that the colder the pitcher is at the beginning of whipping, the better the milk will eventually turn out. And it really is. This is less common now, but working with a cold pitcher used to be a must. If you don't put the pitcher in the freezer, you'll be in trouble.

Consider one of the fattest pitchers. Two important points. Thickness of the pitcher. What does it affect? Primarily by weight. There's nothing good about a heavy pitcher. Second, its strength. The thicker the pitcher's edge, the less damage it will cause and the less chance it will bend. As for latte art: temperature transfer rate. In a fat pitcher, there is a chance to overheat the milk.

The chance is small, but it is available, since the pitcher's temperature will rise more slowly than the milk temperature. Therefore, you can miss the moment of overheating. On a thin pitcher, the temperature is transmitted faster, so it's easier to feel the right moment. Metal conducts heat quickly. Much faster than glass. But the thickness of the metal can affect. What are the advantages of a fat pitcher? First, even if it is not put in the refrigerator, it still has its own room temperature and the thicker it is, the longer the milk will be whipped. Fractions of seconds, but they can make a difference. Thickness in this regard plays a small plus, as for me. And if you put it in the refrigerator or freezer, the efficiency increases. You can definitely add 2-3 seconds to the whipping process. Well, the whipping time affects the quality of milk in a positive way. But what if the pitcher is suddenly warm? After all, this is bad. The easiest and fastest way to cool it is to wash it in cold water. And, in fact, this is quite enough.

No matter how many advantages storing a pitcher in the refrigerator or freezer has, it is not necessary to do this. Two factors: first, how quickly the pitcher will take the temperature of the milk. It doesn't make much difference if you took out a cold pitcher and poured cold milk, or if you took a pitcher at room temperature and poured milk colder than the first one. But when you put a pitcher in the refrigerator or freezer, you open that refrigerator. And when you open it , you release the cold. And from the fact that you will pull out and put the pitcher back and forth, you make unnecessary movements of the milk that is inside, warmer than it could be if you did not do it. And it's definitely not worth it.

It is better to make sure that it is the milk that becomes colder than the pitcher. An ice pitcher won't save you if your milk is at room temperature. It will always be better if the opposite is true. Well, the pitcher, after each use, is best washed and thereby cooled:)